I never thought I’d be saying this before, but I have too much arugula. I managed to have too much (too much?) of the most sophisticated of salad greens, a delicate and expensive ingredient that perishes quickly, so better get just a small amount at a time. At least, that was my understanding of arugula about a year ago. This summer, I can never seem to get rid of enough of the stuff because I’ve been growing it.

It grows so quickly and easily, I’ve been sowing and plucking container after container of it regularly. For a gardener, these and other baby greens are the highest return for your time and labor, as they don’t need to be thinned like other plants and basically don’t need you to do anything but water it until they’re mature. No, growing arugula is like going for the easy target every time, but I’m not complaining about the prize. You can never really eat enough arugula, since it’s packed with packed with Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, folate, calcium, iron and protein, and has only two calories per half-cup.

So I decided to pack this in an even denser concentration by pulverizing the leaves into a pesto. Plus, we’re getting sick of arugula salads at Sixpoint.

It seemed almost sacrilege to forfeit fresh arugula for a pesto, at least that’s what I thought at first. A whole mound of them needs to be sacrificed. But arugula is versatile, and although we tend to taste them fresh most of the time, they taste pretty good lightly cooked, ground up, or stuffed into a sandwich. I’d never made arugula pesto before (because I’d never had a plethora of it to play with), but it’s been fun trying out pestos with fresh kale, mint and even carrot greens lately. So why not?

The traditional way to make pesto from basil, which purists will preach, is to chop your basil with a knife into ever smaller and smaller pieces by hand. This ensures the leaves don’t get “bruised” but rather break cleanly, to produce a better flavor. I’ve done this with basil and mint, to ridiculously time-consuming (but good) results. Somehow, arugula doesn’t seem to be the same type of leaf to apply to this method — it’s too watery to really bruise, and seems to want to be blended up instead.

So I took the easy way out of smashing them up in a few seconds’ time in a food processor. Along with them went some almonds — nuts are always a good accoutrement in pesto, for texture and a nutty taste — a clove of garlic, salt and olive oil. Swap in any nut you like or have on hand: pine nuts, walnuts or pecans work great as well.

For the past few weeks it’s been a pretty common sight at lunchtime to have a bowl of arugula and halved cherry tomatoes from the garden, with dressing. Instead of serving that, I’m about to coat some penne pasta with this pesto, and toss in the ripe tomatoes, too. So it’ll be pasta and the salad, in one dish, instead.

Arugula Pesto with Almonds
(makes about 1 cup)

2 cups packed arugula leaves, stems removed
1/3 cup roasted almonds
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
grated parmiggiano-reggiano or pecorino romano cheese to taste (optional)

Place almonds and garlic in a food processor and pulse a few times until well-chopped. Add the arugula, salt, pepper and optional cheese and pulse, stopping to scrape down the sides with a spatula as needed. Drizzle in the olive oil while blending until desired consistency. Taste for seasoning. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to one week or in the freezer for up to one year.